Digimon Tamers X
by GKmon
Summary: A young teenager finds himself and his friends in a whirlwind adventure... And all they thought it was at first was a video game. ON HIATUS.
1. Prologue: Thunderstorm

The alleyway was dark, as the rain poured down in the city and lightning flashed. A rat was rooting through the turned over garbage cans, searching for food; it was completely oblivious to the rain and thunder. It had no idea what was about to happen in the area; no clue that its life could soon be on the line...

A crack sounded, a crack unlike the thunder and lightning that were booming overhead. The rat jumped and scampered out of sight, as a strange fog began to fill the alley.

It had shown a great deal of intelligence in running, as a large, blue, dragonoid creature began to take shape within the fog. A pair of horns crested from the back of its head, and a third from its nose. Although it had no wings, it didn't seem to need them; powerful muscles tensed in its arms and legs, its thick tail waving in the air. It snarled, revealing sharp white teeth; its eyes showed signs of extreme concentration. In a sharp, power-hungry voice, it rasped, "Who out there is willing to come and fight me, the great V-dramon!?"

As if in answer, a smaller creature began to enter the fog. Unlike the first creature, it appeared to be half-dragon, half-dog. Short, deep-blue and white fur covered its body, and scars ran along its back. Muscles rippled under the skin of its arms and legs. From its forepaws and feet extended sharp black claws; its dog like ears were tipped with a very dark color, almost black as night. Its own tail was much like that of a fox, but also capable of knocking an ordinary human adult over. A pair of jet black dragonoid wings extended from its back, marking an ability to fly. It also seemed to have a lean look about it, like a starved wolf. Its eyes were a piercing yellow, its pupils narrowed almost to slits. The eyes were just as focused as V-dramon's, but seemed hungry almost, as if it was longing for something but had been unable to find it. "I am willing and able to defeat you, you insolent fool."

V-dramon scoffed. "You think that a Child-level like you can defeat an Adult-level like me?! Ha! You're cockier than I'd expect in someone so pitiful!"

"He's not alone," a dark female voice declared. A new figure began to emerge. Unlike the first two, this one seemed definitely human. Her clothing would seem strange and attention-grabbing to most (a sleeveless black jacket over a red shortsleeve tee-shirt, which in turn was over a navy colored long sleeve; a long, blue scarf around her neck; and tattered, deep blue jeans), but either she didn't care about the attention or it was the effect she desired. Dark brown hair fell as far as her shoulders, framing her pale face and her angry, piercing blue eyes. The same leanness and hunger that surrounded the second creature seemed to be present in her as well. "With a Tamer at his side," she continued, "He's capable of destroying multiple Adult-levels at once. For I have shaped him that way. He is the Ultimate Monster..." She paused, looking first at the creature that had entered the fog just before her, then at V-dramon. "And I am the Ultimate Tamer!"

V-dramon gasped. "No... impossible... a kid like her is the Ultimate Tamer?! Impossible!"

"Yet it is so," the girl said, a nasty smirk crossing her face. "And you are about to become our next step in our becoming invincible." She looked at the dog-dragon. "NeoDorumon? I believe you KNOW what to do by now."

The hunger in NeoDorumon's eyes seemed to intensify, as if the very thing he wanted was finally coming within his grasp. He charged at V-dramon, baring his own short, sharp teeth, his powerful jaws forming a loud roar.

In his panic, V-dramon didn't even know what to do. The only thing that came to mind was the fight-or-flight instinct that exists in all living creatures... And he had decided to fight.

"V-Breath Arrow!" he cried, as an arrow shaped flame shot from his mouth; he breathed the flame multiple times at NeoDorumon, who nimbly dodged them all, all the while getting closer to his prey. Suddenly, NeoDorumon leaped at V-dramon's neck, and brought his jaws down in a certain-death bite: his Dino Tooth attack.

V-dramon cried out, in a mix of pain and horror. He seemed to flicker, as if at any moment he would disappear entirely, leaving no trace. Finally his body burst apart into millions of almost-microscopic particles: data. It was all that was left of him, but neither the girl nor NeoDorumon seemed to care.

"You KNOW what to do," the girl said, a hint of anger in her voice. NeoDorumon responded by leaning his entire body back, his eyes closed. His entire being seemed to stiffen, as the particles rushed towards his body... and entered it. He had just loaded V-dramon's data, and added it to his own.

"Excellent work, NeoDorumon," the girl said. "Soon, nothing will stand in our way..."


	2. Chapter 1: Dream Game

The sun was shining through an open window, onto a teenaged boy's head. He probably wasn't much older than fourteen, but already he seemed much like a seventeen year old. His dirty blond hair was all mussed up, his alarm was going off for the seventh time that morning, and his room was a mess. Finally, his light blue eyes began to open slightly.

"Mmrrgh," he grunted, still half asleep. "Thank God for the weekend."

"ALEC!!" came an adult female voice from downstairs. "FIVE MINUTES!"

Alec groaned, remembering that last night, he had promised his mother that he would go out shopping with her just this one time. And apparently she wanted to leave soon.

"Oh well," he said to himself. "You knew what you were getting yourself into..."

Leaping to his feet, he scooped up the clothes his mother had picked out for him last night, and darted to the bathroom, where he proceeded to shower, change, and make one final attempt to make his hair lie flat like his mother wanted it too. However, no matter how hard he tried, his messy hair was like a boomerang: it just kept on coming back. He himself had given up attempting to fix it, but Mom always told him to make himself look "presentable."

Giving up once more, he pulled open a drawer underneath the sink and picked up a scarf-like head band and a pair of goggles. Tying the band around his head and setting the goggles on top of it, he looked at himself in the mirror.

"Yeah," he said, smiling. "That's exactly the look of a leader!" He was, of course, referring to one of the main characters of one of his favorite TV shows ever: Digimon. The Digimon craze had been popular enough, but due to some bizarre events that had happened three years ago, the popularity of the franchise had sky-rocketed. Alec himself hadn't been in that particular area at the time, but he had heard enough about those events to make him a fan.

Turning from the mirror, he darted out of the bathroom, down the stairs and straight to the kitchen, where his mother was standing, arms crossed and her foot tapping. Alec shuddered; whenever his mother started tapping her foot, it meant that he was in trouble.

"You were supposed to be up at seven o'clock sharp," she hissed. "It is now 7:35."

"I-I'm sorry, mom, I SWEAR I didn't mean to sleep in!" Alec blurted out.

"Well, better late than never. We might as well get going." she sighed in an annoyed fashion.

Moments later, Alec found himself in the front passenger seat of his family's minivan, his mother driving towards the plaza. "I think I know exactly where YOU will be going once we get there, Alec," his mother said. Alec cringed. Anytime she said that, it meant that she was going to make him try on new clothes, the one thing he hated most besides his dad's chicken-brocolli alfredo. But to his surprise, as they pulled into the parking lot, his mother handed him two twenty dollar bills. "Go and buy something you like. I need to get some supplies for your father."

Alec gasped. This was the first time his mother was allowing him to go off and get something he wanted. With a wide smile on his face, he darted out of the car the second it was parked, and he ran into the nearest store, which happened to be a video game retailer.

Alec gazed around the store, looking at the latest released games. He saw a cool action-adventure game that he wanted, but he knew that he didn't have nearly enough money to buy it; in fact, he didn't even have the console it played on. Sighing, he walked towards another part of the store, where there were more games that he liked and could afford.

"Hey, Alec!" came a voice. Alec turned to see who had spoken. It was a tall, dark-haired boy about fourteen years of age; he had a slight tan and had dark brown eyes.

"Hey Dan! Long time, no see, eh?" he responded.

"What are you doin' out THIS early? You never wake up until ten on the weekends!" Dan said.

"Well, my mom DRAGGED me out shopping-"

"And let you loose, I see." Dan said smiling. "It's about time. If she hadn't done it sooner, I think we'd all die of depression!"

Both boys laughed, then began to browse the selection together, pointing out the games they wanted and what their parents would never let them get in a million years.

"Whoa! Check this one out!" Dan said, calling Alec over. He showed him the box for the video game he was talking about. " 'Digimon Adventure: X-Generation. Works with the Evolve.1 set of the card game.' Basically a home version of the Digimon Battle Terminals. This wasn't supposed to be released for another month!" Dan had a way of knowing the release dates for various video games. After all, his dad worked for one of the companies that produced some of the more popular video games, like Digimon.

"Still, there's a whole rack right here in front of us," Alec said.

"AND it looks like we can afford it," Dan said. "Thirty bucks apiece!"

"WHAT? But it's got to be really expensive if we want to get all the stuff so that we can use those cards and stuff!" To Alec's surprise, Dan pointed to a poster that was up on the wall, which dictated that they had a bundle pack offer: get the game that they were talking about, and get the accessories for it free. "Oh." Alec said simply. "Then I'm getting one."

"Smart choice!" Dan said, a weird grin on his face as Alec picked up a copy of his own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After browsing through the other games and playing the demo games on display, the boys made their way to the counter.

"Talk about a lucky break!" Alec said as they left the store. "Wait till everyone hears that X-Generation got released early!"

"Tell me about it! Dad says that the company's profits are gonna go through the roof because o' this!"

"Alec!" came his mother's voice. Both boys turned to see Alec's mother pulling up in the minivan. "Well hello, Dan! It's good to see you again!"

"Good to see you too, Mrs. Ryuuji!" Dan said.

"Got a new game, I see?" Mrs. Ryuuji said.

"Yeah," Alec said. "We both got a copy of it." Then something occurred to him. "Weren't you supposed to be out a little longer, though?"

"I was, but I found what I was looking for right off the bat, so I finished a bit early." She looked at Dan again. "Dan, what do you say to coming over this afternoon so you boys can have fun with that game you just got?"

"Sure!" Dan said excitedly. "Mom's out of town for the weekend, and Dad has a business meeting to attend, so he can drop me off on the way there."

"Well, I guess we'll see ya then?" Alec asked.

"Yup!" Dan said. Dan's parents had always been a bit more liberal with him than Alec's parents usually were, but despite this, the boys had always managed to have fun and all too often get into some sort of trouble. "Later!" he called as Alec hopped into the van.

"Bye!" Alec responded as his mother drove out of the parking lot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the day, Alec spent most of his time trying out the game. It was really interesting how the game worked: you created an alias human form for online stuff, you picked a Digi-egg out of an entire group of Digi-eggs, and eventually when the egg hatched, you would raise your partner Digimon.

In the main part of the game, it was like an ordinary RPG. You went around seeking opponents, every once in a while, meet and face a boss, gather items to take care of your Digimon, and so on and so forth. In the internet based half of the game, you could challenge other Tamers to online battles, exchange items, face rare Digimon that could only be fought there, and use special codes to get various items, like an X-Antibody, for your Digimon, or Digi-eggs.

By the time Dan had come and gone that day, Alec had already raised his new "Digimon" to Rookie level, to a Digimon called Kotemon. He had seen Kotemon in a Digimon movie recently, and in the card game, and thought it was a really cool Digimon to have as a partner.

That evening, he was still playing the game, despite how tired he was. Even though he was offline now, he couldn't help but oogle at Kotemon's picture on screen.

"Wouldn't it be cool if he was real, and really my partner..." he yawned. It was late, and his parents had both already gone to bed, but he was too enraptured in the game to tear himself away. Slowly, his eyes began to close...

************************************

_"Alec! LOOK OUT!" came a cry._

"Huh?" Alec said, looking wildly around. To his horror, what looked like a giant dinosaur wearing a triceratops skull for a helmet, was charging straight at him, teeth bared.

"Fire Kote!" came the voice again. What looked like a miniature lizard wearing Kendo armor leapt in between Alec and the charging monster and swiped a flaming kendo stick at it. The monster recoiled in surprise. "Greymon, I won't allow you to hurt my partner!"

_**Kotemon? **__Alec thought. __**What's going on here?**___

"Alec, swipe a card!" Kotemon yelled.

"What?"

"Take a Digimon card and swipe it through the Digivice!" Kotemon yelled.

Alec dipped his hands into his pockets, and sure enough, one of his cards was there as was a strange device. "Here goes," he sighed, sliding the card through the slot on the side.

"Exhaust Flame!" Kotemon cried, breathing a massive inferno through his mask. The Greymon screamed as the attack hit it. To Alec's surprise, the Greymon burst apart into tiny pixel-like things, which vanished after a few moments.

"We-We beat 'em!" Alec cried.

"Yeah, you think?" Kotemon said. "Now wake up already."

"Huh?"

************************************

"You humans are incomprehensible." came an unfamiliar voice from right next to him. "Babblin' about a Greymon, there's no Greymon here!" Alec, who was now wide awake, stiffened in surprise. He turned his head slowly, realizing that what ever this was would give him a shock...


	3. Chapter 2: Recollections

Alec stared in shock at the small, lizard-like creature wearing Kendo armor that was sitting right next to him on the couch. It stared back, its bright yellow, curiosity-filled eyes.

"Well?" the creature said. "Gatomon got yer tongue or somethin'?"

"Ahmmm," Alec started. He carefully leaned forward and began poking the creature gingerly in the arm.

"W-what the heck're you doin'?" it asked.

"K-k...Kotemon?"

"That's-a m'name, don't wear it out!" Kotemon answered.

Alec continued to stare, his eyes wide in surprise.

Kotemon looked back. _Poor kid, he must be scared outa his mind,_ he thought. _She wasn't kidding, humans DO scare easily._

"A-ah-" Alec started.

_She REALLY wasn't kidding, he must be about to b-_

"AWESOME!!" Alec said, almost screaming. "This's so amazing, the real thing!"

_Wow,_ Kotemon thought, as Alec continued to rant about how amazing it was that Kotemon really existed. _I guess he's a little different from others. I guess I shouldn't have worried. Still-_ "Are... you arright?"

Alec, who managed to settle down at Kotemon's question, sighed nervously, and said, "Ah, this is normal for me. So you're Kotemon, right?"

"Yes, we've established that," Kotemon said, "Who're you?"

"Name's Alec, Alec Ryuuji," Alec answered. "So... What're you doing here, shouldn't you be in the Digital World or something?"

"I guess you know plenty about Digimon arready," Kotemon said. "And I WAS in the Digital World, but then somethin' that looked like a human told me that I had to go to the Real World and find a human to be my Tamer. She di'nt say why, or who she was, just that it was import'nt."

"But do you know who that Tamer is supposed to be?" Alec asked.

"I'm assumin' you," Kotemon answered. "She said that my Tamer had already been picked out for me, and that she would be sendin' me close t'where that person was, and that the Digivice would react-"

"Wait- a Digivice?"

"Yup," Kotemon said, and pulled its sleeve back revealing a clawed hand holding a strange device; the same device that Alec had seen in his dream moments ago. "I came in here through that," he pointed to the computer, "And when I came near you, it started beepin' like crazy. You were asleep, so I guess you di'nt hear it. And that's about when you started babblin' about a Greymon in yer sleep. Anyway, since it reacted t' you, I guess yer the one I'm lookin' for." And with that, Kotemon handed the Digivice to Alec.

"Wow," he said softly.

What he had no idea was that halfway across town, there were others that had experienced something similar in the past...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In a small home, on the other side of Shinjuku, within the living room, two teenagers, a boy and a girl, were seated beside each other, their arms wrapped around each other, before a warm fireplace. The girl had long brown hair that ended about halfway down her back; she wore a red, low-necked, long-sleeve shirt, a heart shaped pendent, and faded blue jeans. Her soft blue eyes, framed by a small pair of glasses, were half-open, her face showing a content expression, her head leaned against the boy's shoulder. The boy, who at that time was wearing a blue T-shirt and denim shorts, had mussy, dirty-blond hair, lengthened to about the base of his neck; his eyes were closed, but his face showed the same expression as the girl's.

"It seems like we've been apart for so long," the girl said, moving her head to look the boy in the face.

"Yeah," the boy answered, stroking the girl's hair. "Last time we saw each other was about three years ago, before you moved away."

"Remember those adventures we'd have, with those two?" the girl said gesturing to a pair of creatures lying on a rug before them, sound asleep. The larger of the two looked almost like a large blue-and-white dog with dragonoid features; a red stone was embedded in it's forehead, shimmering in the firelight. The smaller one, which was white, primarily, with pink markings, looked like a small cat with large frilled ears and a pair of small angelic wings extending from it's back; at that moment, it was lying on top of the first creature, but neither one seemed to care.

"I sure do, Kayla," the boy answered. "That was how we first met, remember?"

Kayla smiled, and hugged the boy tighter. "How could I forget, Joel?" Her eyes were slowly closing; she was obviously tired. "After they went back, we sort of went our separate ways, with me moving away and you being homeschooled... But once they came back here... I dunno, it's like everytime they leave us we get separated in some way and everytime they come to us, we get back together again." Her eyes fully closed now, her voice was starting to trail off. "It's good that we're back together again."

"Almost like a family," Joel whispered to her. He could tell she was dozing off, and gave her a gentle squeeze and a kiss on the head. "G'night, Kay," he whispered.

"Night, Joel," Kayla answered as she fell asleep.

Joel then carefully scooped Kayla into his arms, and carried her into another room with a bed. Laying her down, he carefully moved the covers out from under her and lay them on her. He then walked into the first room once more, scooped up the cat-like creature and brought back to the bedroom, placing it on the bed near Kayla's feet.

Walking back into the living room, he picked up the dog-like creature and carried it outside with him. _I gotta admit, Dorumon and Kewmon looked adorable like that,_ he thought, smiling. _Seems almost a shame that we couldn't stay the night._

He walked along the street, carrying Dorumon over his shoulder. It was nice having Kayla back; the two of them had been good friends for such a long time now, it was hard to tear them away from each other; now it would probably be even harder, as this had been their first actual "date" with each other, and chances were good that they would continue "dating."

All these thoughts were running through his head, but were interrupted by a series of beeps coming from his pocket. He stopped, and fished his hand around in his pocket for a moment, finally pulling out a blue and white device. He looked at the screen. _TWO signals?! At this time a' night?... wait, one's a Digimon signal, the other looks like a Digivice... Ah, well, I guess I'll hafta talk Kay and her sis into investigating, tomorrow._ He pocketed the device, once more, and still carrying Dorumon, he ran his fastest along the sidewalk, heading home.


	4. Chapter 3: Discovery

_It was a place unlike the real world or the Digital world; in fact, it was a place in between the two, but unlike either one, it was shrouded in mystery... Not to mention that it was rather foggy as well._

Barely visible in the fog stood four figures. One bore resemblence to a human fifteen-year-old girl, with long dark colored hair; her arms were folded, and her golden colored eyes were shut for the moment, as though she were meditating, revealing purple colored scars down across her eyes. She was dressed in loose clothing, with a band around her waist, the ends swaying when she moved.

The second and third were a young boy and an amphibian-like Digimon. The boy was almost the height of the girl, but he probably wasn't much older than thirteen. He had mussed-up hair the same dark color as the girl's, but significantly shorter. He wore navy-blue shorts, brown wristbands, thick gray socks, plain moccasin-like shoes, and a sleeveless sea-green shirt, and a grayish brown cloak was wrapped about his shoulders, secured by a leather band. The Digimon looked like a green and white frog with fangs and a tuft of orange hair on its head. Like the girl, both seemed intently focused, but their eyes were open, determination showing through.

The fourth figure was a Digimon as well, but unlike the first Digimon, it was about eight feet tall, and seemed much like a knight clad in white armor. A Wargreymon face and a shield bearing the Crest of Courage adorned its left arm, while a MetalGarurumon face was on its right with spiked armor on its shoulder. A white cape billowed out behind the Digimon.

Finally, the girl's eyes opened and she took in the sight of the boy and the two Digimon. "Well?" she asked. "Has the rogue been found?"

"In a sense," the knight-like Digimon said. "We know the city in which the rogue resides, but its exact location is not known."

"Have you made any attempt to track it down further?" she continued.

"Are you insane?!" the boy yelled. "If Omnimon were to go to the real world, he could cause complete panic amongst the other humans!"

The girl shot a look at the boy. "Though you have made a point, Yoush, I would prefer that you did not raise your voice unless absolutely necessary." She spoke coolly, in a tone that would send chills down your spine. And it seemed to have an effect on Yoush as well.

"Now, as I was saying," she continued, "Omnimon, do you have any planned method for tracking down the rogue?"

"As yet, no," Omnimon responded. "I was considering using the same method as you are using to track down the prototypes."

"I have only succeeded in this thus far because two were left behind, and they was willing to have Tamers and to search for the others. The only ones you could utilize immediately would be Yoush and Betamon."

"We can go there!" the amphibian Digimon, Betamon piped up, in a high-pitched voice. "We'd blend in easily, and besides we have experience in this sort of thing!"

_"Are you sure you are willing to do this?" the girl asked turning to Yoush and Betamon._

Yoush looked at Betamon, then back to the girl. "Yes," he said firmly. "Yes, we're ready. But just one question. Why can't YOU go and-"

"You KNOW why," the girl said, cutting him off. "It would expose myself to the rogue, and that could spell disaster."

"Very well," Yoush said, calmly. "We'll go." With that, he and Betamon turned and seemed to vanish into the mist.

"Are you sure of this, my mistress?" Omnimon asked.

"We have no other choice, Omnimon," the girl answered, her formerly stern eyes looking somewhat saddened. "We must either bring back the rogue or destroy it before it can get to the prototypes and recruit them to its cause." She heaved a sigh. "It is a pity, though, that we must end a life that had so much potential."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the real world, a bright, sunny morning was finally dawning on Shinjuku. Alec opened his eyes, faintly seeing the bright sunlight streaming in through the window. _Darn,_ he thought, seeing his computer still in front of him and displaying the game stats of Kotemon. _It was all a dream. Kotemon coming in through the computer. Yeah, right... So why does it feel like there is something leaning against me?_ He looked and nearly jumped, as Kotemon was sound asleep leaning against him. "I guess I wasn't dreaming," he said, and looked to his hand, and saw that he still had the "Digivice." "Weird, weird, weird," he said, "But pretty cool!"

He stood up carefully so as not to wake Kotemon, and walked into the kitchen. "Huh?" he said, taking notice of a piece of paper on the table.

Picking it up, he read it to himself. _Alec, your father and I went to get some things organized for our move. We won't be back until nine o' clock tonight. There's pizza in the fridge and some snacks in the cabinets for when lunch and dinnertime come around. Don't get into too much trouble! Love, Mom._

"Man," he said aloud. This was only one of several reminders that they were moving to another appartment complex in a few days. The others were missing furniture, photographs and frames being taken down, and a multitude of boxes in the storage room being cleared out. "This is going to be REALLY boring," he muttered as he opened the fridge and pulled out a carton of orange juice. Then he remembered, "Well maybe not so bad, since I've got Kotemon, now!" After pouring a glass and gulping it down, he ran back to the living room, where Kotemon was still sleeping. "Hey! Hey, c'mon bud, wake up!" he said, shaking the Digimon gingerly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Joel ran along the street, feeling much more confident now that it was daylight. Dorumon ran beside him, looking more like a dog than anything and blending in almost perfectly, with the only comments being that he "must be a mixed breed or something." Skidding to a halt in front of Kayla's house, they tore up the front walk to the door and rang the door bell. Joel heard a nervous scrambling around within the house, and moments later, a twelve-year-old girl with laughing, brown eyes and auburn hair partially done up in pigtails opened the door.

"Joel-kun!" she squealed, and hugged him around the middle. "Doru-chan!" She squeezed Dorumon's neck.

"Hi, Emma," Joel said, cringing slightly at Emma's energy this early in the morning. "Is Kayla up yet?"

"Yes, we were just getting breakfast," came a sarcastic groan, and in to Joel's line of vision walked Kewmon and an odd looking Terriermon. A Terriermon X, to be precise. The voice belonged to Kewmon, however, who continued, "What're you doing here?"

"It's an emergency," Joel answered, the panic showing in his voice. "I'll meet you guys at the park, in the usual location, and explain there. See if you can get any of the others to come, too."

"Mm-hmm!" Emma responded, "See ya there, Joel-kun!" And she shut the door, as Joel turned and ran towards the park.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alec jogged through the park, with Kotemon on his shoulders. "Pretty cool, ne?"

"Yeah, it's alot like the Digital World!" Kotemon responded. "Only there's a lot more of these building-things here than there, and a lot more trees and plants there than here!"

"You sound like a Dr. Seuss book!" Alec laughed.

"Oi! Alec!" came a familiar voice.

Alec turned; it was Dan! "Hey! Check this out!" Alec responded and pointed to Kotemon.

"You're not the only one!" Dan said, as he ran up to Alec, who noticed that Dan was carrying around an unusually large backpack. "Look at this!"

He pulled off the backpack, and undid the top; inside was a large, bear-like creature wearing a baseball cap; it yawned, exposing short, sharp teeth, then gazed about taking in its surroundings. "Kotemon!" it called, seeing the armor wearing Digimon, and climbed out of the backpack.

"Bearmon!" Kotemon answered, and leapt off of Alec's shoulders and on top of Bearmon. In a few moments the two Digimon were tussling like a pair of small puppies, and laughing the whole time. Alec and Dan just stared at them.

"Either of you care to explain this?" Dan asked of the Digimon.

"Kotemon and I were best friends back in the Digital World," Bearmon said. "But then we were told we had to find some other Digimon that got here, the Real World, and find Tamers to help us out!"

"I told Alec about this already," Kotemon said, getting up.

"Is Alec the human kid you were sitting on?" Bearmon said.

"Yup," Kotemon answered.

"So let me get this straight: Kotemon, Bearmon, Alec, Dan," Dan said, and pointing to each person or Digimon respectively.

"Bingo!" Bearmon and Kotemon chorused.

"Cool, no?" Alec said to Dan.

"Very cool," Dan said. "Hey! Race you guys to the pond!"

"Last one there's a rotten DigiEgg!" Kotemon yelled, and they all took off.

What they didn't know was that they were being watched...

High in a tree sat a large, dragonoid figure. It had jet-black wings, deep blue stripes along its body, and piercing, yellow eyes. "Her greatness will not be happy about this," it whispered, and flew off.


End file.
